Ask Terry Grantling, 35, and she will tell you that homelessness can happen to anyone.

Terry and her husband Eddie, 36, are proof that the floor can fall out from under any family if the circumstances are right.

The Grantlings and their three children, twins Morgan and Madison, 8, and Eddie III, 9, were looking forward to moving from their Southfield apartment to a new home in May.

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They never would have guessed that by fall they would be homeless and that their children would be receiving services from the Oakland Schools homeless student program.

As the Grantlings were ready to close on a deal to buy a house, Terry was finishing up her degree in education from Eastern Michigan University to become a special education teacher. Eddie was in his 13th year of employment at Detroit Diesel and working on a degree in electrical engineering at Wayne State University.

Then on May 29, Eddie received notice that he was laid off. The couple lost their chance to buy the house. And since Terry was not working because she had been student teaching to complete her degree, she could not pay the rent.

The couple tried to hold on to their apartment, the Grantlings explained during an interview that had to be scheduled at a local coffee house because they have no permanent address.

Eddie even pawned his wedding ring to generate some money to pay a month's rent. But it only prolonged the inevitable.

The Grantlings were evicted from their apartment in August.

They moved all of their belongings to a storage unit and during the weekdays took refuge in the basement of a friend with a family of five in Redford.

On the weekends, the family stayed at the homes of other friends and family members to give their generous Redford friends some space.

Children the first concern in homelessness

When something like this happens, Terry said, "The most important thing to parents is the welfare of your children."

To the Grantlings, this meant keeping the children in their own school in the Southfield school district no matter where they were living.

Under the Federal McKinney-Vinton Act on behalf of homeless children, Orris was able to ensure the children can stay in their own school. The federal act also requires school districts to provide transportation or provide a gas card to help parents drive the child to their home school.

"When you are having your whole life turned upside down, it is pretty difficult to have to change schools and friends," said Susan Benson, program director of community programs and special projects.

"Based on the work we do with Oakland County Alliance, the average age of a homeless person is 9 ... and it is trending toward 8. This means the vast majority of homeless people are children," Benson said.

Besides the families with young children, homeless children also include youths "couch surfing" going from friend to friend.

Benson said Oakland Schools is assisting 1,200 homeless students now and expects that number to increase to 2,500 this year. But that is only a portion of what they believe are 6,500 homeless students in Oakland County.

"Homeless students are in every school district. They take honors classes, march in the school band and play on the football team.

"They just don't wear a sign that says 'my family is without a fixed, regular or adequate nighttime residence. I am homeless.' "

"School is one of the places homeless students can feel the stability of safe and familiar surroundings. It is what all children deserve," Benson said.

The Grantlings have been provided a $25 gas card each week to get their children to and from school. And the homeless program gave the Grantling children book bags and school supplies, too, Terry Grantling said.

Homeless hide their situation

"Every district has homeless families," Benson said.

"There are doubled-up families; families staying in motels, who can come up with $39 for a night but not for a couple of thousand for an apartment," Benson said.

"There are families of 11 staying in a hotel room. I have had families who have stayed in their car, families who stayed in out buildings, in garages, abandoned homes," all places not meant for continuous habitation, she said.

"There are families calling from cell phones saying, 'I'm on the wait list for shelters, but we have no where to go.' "

Oakland Schools' homeless student program's first obligation is to ensure the children are in school, but they also call to find resources for the families.

"But it is a lot of work and we have a teeny grant," Benson said.

The Grantlings wanted to live as normally as possible while they are going through homelessness. Even friends at the church they've been attending for years do not know what they have been going through, the couple said.

They've been visiting their storage unit most weekends getting clothes and other necessities. They bought their children school clothes in a thrift shop run by a local church and, on occasion, they've visited food pantries to provide meals.

But outwardly, no one would know by looking at them or their children that they have been homeless for almost a year.

Ironically, Eddie received a letter calling him back to work Aug. 28, the couple's 14th wedding anniversary and the day that the couple had uploaded the U-Haul trailer and delivered their belongings to the storage unit.

By then, they had already lost their apartment.

Recently, Terry got a job teaching in a charter school on the east side of Detroit.

When Terry got her job, the family had only one car, so Terry had to stay with one friend who could drive the children to school and Terry to work. Her husband stayed with another friend and drove to his job near Redford. Now, she has a car that "barely" gets her to her job, she said.

Just recently, Terry's cousin offered the couple the use of a home in Detroit that is in foreclosure. So they are staying there now; happy to at least temporarily give the children some stability and a room of their own.

Eddie and Terry, who prefer to refer to the family's homeless status as "in transition," remain positive that with both of them working again, paying their bills and saving some money, they will be moving into a home of their own in a few months.

Terry is not giving up on plans to pass her state test for certification and begin work on her master's degree. Eddie is definite about his goal of continuing his progress toward a degree in electrical engineering at Wayne State University.

But once this "transition" is over, they said, they will be thankful to Oakland Schools; to the families that have provided them a place to stay; and to Southfield Public Library, which has become their home-away-from home for doing homework after school.

Each day, Eddie picks his children up from school and takes them to the library nearby, and Terry meets them there after work.

Help for homeless children

Benson said a lot of people don't want to ask Oakland Schools for help or they don't know the homeless student program exists, or they don't consider themselves homeless.

"If I'm staying with you and I don't know if I will be able to stay tomorrow, that is not stable," Benson said.

Many people have become homeless because of layoffs, foreclosure or because their landlords have been foreclosed on and they have to evict their tenants.

"Most of the families are working, but most are working poor. If you are working a couple of minimum wage jobs, it is not enough to pay for housing and for a family," Benson said.

"They assume they have to try and change districts or think they aren't going to be allowed to change districts. That's not true," Benson said.

By law, children may continue to attend their home district or transfer to another district even if they are not legitimate residents there, if it is for the benefit of the child who temporarily has no stable home.

"It really does touch your heart when you see these kids and they are so appreciative," Benson said.